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HAVRE DE GRACE, Md., April 17. The attention of race-goers the country over tomorrow will be drawn to the picturesque course here on the shores of the Susquehanna where the important public test for the Kentucky Derby will be decided. This trial for candidates for the Blue Grass Classic is the Chesapeake Stakes, a mile and a sixteenth race with 0,000 in added money. Ten have been named overnight and only one of the lot is not eligible for the Churchill Downs race. Heading the group is the Detroit-owned Grand Slam in the Bomar Stable of Bohn and Markey. At present he is an 8 to 1 third choice in the Derby futures, being topped by Brevity and Hollyrood. It is anticipated he will rule favorite tomorrow and in the event of a muddy track, hell be mighty short, as he is a superior mud runner. On a dry track his task will not be so easy for several fit and ready colts, which have been good winners, are scheduled to oppose him. Race-goers should -see a fit horse in Grand Slam. Trainer Potts has devoted his time during recent months to preparing this colt for his seasons first race. He did not pick a soft spot, many being of the belief that it would have been better to tighten the three-year-old in an overnight race before sending him forth in an important stake. However, the Baltimorean developed the colt and he should know his horse. Before shipping to Havre de Grace, Grand Slam trained over the private track at the old J. K. L. Ross farm just outside Laurel. Here he has been doing all asked in training. Today he galloped five-eighths in 1:05 and before that went the same distance over a track which was slightly off in 1:02, nicely in hand. A mile in 1:42 through the mud also was accomplished handily. Grand Slam was capable enough to take the worst of the start in the rich Arlington Futurity and then run over the speedy Tin- Continued on twenty-first page. CHESAPEAKE STAKES TODAY Continued from first page. tagel in the six-furlong mid-summer stake at the Chicago grounds. Later he whipped Hollyrood in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, but Hal Price Headleys colt turned the tables on him in the Pimlico Futurity. In his two stake victories the Chance Play colt had mud to favor him. When beaten by Hollyrood the track was good. Bright Plumage, C. V. Whitneys winner of the Derby Consolation at Tropical Park and his chief candidate for the Kentucky Derby, has racing condition over the westerner and consequently appears the one to whip. His final start at the Coral Gables and he worked course was most impressive a mile in 1:54, well in hand, at Belmont Park before shipping to Havre de Grace. He breezed a half in :52. Followers of the fortunes of "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, who has won Americas triple with Gallant Fox crown on two occasions and Omaha, will be supporting- Teufel in the Chesapeake. This son of Diavolo and Virginia L. is a maiden, despite eleven chances during 1935. He worked satisfactorily at Aqueduct for the stake and will have a seven-pound weight pull over Grand Slam, packing 112 to that colts 119. Over a slow track at the Long Island grounds, he ran a handy mile and a furlong in 1:54 before shipping, the half in :48, three-quarters in 1:14 and the mile in l:i0z. Here, he breezed a half in :51. Postage Due, rated the best of Alfred Vanderbilts three-year-olds, turned in a keen six-furlong effort in his public final for the Chesapeake and then worked out a mile in 1:40. He won half a dozen races last year, including the United States Hotel Stakes and Eastern Shore Handicap. While he must be rated a contender, he is a High Time and therefore of doubtful value at a mile and a sixteenth. Speed to Spare, the other Sagamore entrant, looks purely a sprinter. Delphinium, winner of the National Stallion at Belmont Park last spring and rated the most able of the Brookmeade three-year-olds, will make his seasons bow in the Havre de Grace stake. The son of Blue Larkspur had his finals for the race at Belmont and they were good enough to prompt Bob Smith to ship him here. He was a steady going fourth in the Pimlico Futurity at a mile and a sixteenth last November and on that showing is more than a sprinter. Grand Slam is not the4 only westerner in the Chesapeake , for Bright Light, recent winner of the Rowe Memorial at six furlongs, will represent the Nash Brothers of Chicago, carrying their Shandon Farm banner. The Sun Flag colt took a beating from older horses in. the mile and a sixteenth Southern Maryland. Handicap last Saturday but probably needed such a conditioner. Challephen, runner-up to Ned Reigh in the Walden, is among Marylands hopes for the stake. However, he bled in his final at Hialeah Park and a hard race might cause him to do so again. Gold Seeker, a stable-mate of Rosemont in the Foxcatcher Farms string of William Dupont, Jr., appears one of the weaker candidates for the race. The Messenger filljr won only two overnight dashes as a two-year-old. Nor can one enthuse greatly over the chances of Phantom Fox, though he did a mile in 1:42 handily over an off track for the event. He accounted for only one race in half a dozen 1935 chances. ,
